Merry Christmas!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas day. We started with just our family and finished the day with a house full (I think 30 people). It was a great day of celebrating our Savior's birth and spending time talking, eating, playing games with lots of laughter and love. I pray that you and your family had a great day. Merry Christmas from the Searles Home.

I know Sue has mentioned Abby, a little girl in Hawaii that nearly drowned ( http://www.prayforabby.com/ ). Abby's family has seen great benefit from using a SCENAR device. We decided to purchase one and see if it would help Luke. Here is a link that explains a bit about a SCENAR device. http://www.scenar.info/info/articles602.php

There is a training session on how to use the device the third week of January in Hawaii. Sue and I have never been to Hawaii and have decided to go. We were able to use air miles to get free round trip tickets. The training is at one of the hotels near Waikiki beach and we have been looking at hotels in Honolulu. If you have been to Hawaii, are there any hotels that you would highly recommend? Or on the flip side, any that you would stay away from? We are looking for something that is comfortable, clean, generally nice, but not extravagant. If you have any suggestions, feel free to post a comment or you can email us at howslukedoing@yahoo.com.

Again, Merry Christmas and may you have a blessed New Year!

I'm thankful that God gives me His amazing strength during this busy Christmas Season

I know that I've said this many times in the past, but truly I think I've been busier lately than I've ever been. I'm very thankful that this time my busyness has nothing to do with Luke being unhealthy or with appointments for him. He has been doing great lately and I'm happy to say that we took him over to our friends Yoli and Juan's home last night and didn't need to take even one machine with us. He has been doing so awesome with his breathing and coughing when he needs to, we no longer need to take his suction machine all the time. To say this is a huge relief, is putting it mildly.

I took him into the dietician last week and he is doing great on his weight and height. He has gained back the weight that he had lost right after his surgery. He is looking very healthy lately, he should be since he is by far the healthiest eater we have in our family. He too has been keeping busy lately. I took the kids to two Christmas parties last week, the first one was where Luke has his Physical Therapy, it is a wonderful place and all the staff put on a wonderful party with games, crafts, snacks and of course pictures with Santa. Then on Thursday we went to Gordy's annual Christmas party at REI headquarters, it is a wonderful time of fun and catching up with his friends that we only get to see once a year. I will try to post some new pictures for you all to see very soon. We also had a picture of our family done on Wednesday night for our annual Christmas cards, I'm hoping to get them out very soon.

Lily turned one on the 20th, it seems impossible to believe that she is already a precious little one year old walking around the house. God is so gracious to give us such a beautiful and sweet little girl, just as her middle name is Joy that is exactly what she has brought to our family a lot of joy. I'm so glad that she is so obedient already she doesn't even bother the tree or other Christmas decorations we have out around the home.

On Sunday Amy put on her 4th annual Christmas play at our church. She loves to direct our children's pageant's each year, this year instead of writing one again she used one already written called "Wise Guy's" it was both very touching and at times very funny as children's play usually end up being. Natalie sung in the choir and also did a solo when she played the part of Mary, she sung so beautifully and looked like a wonderful Mother of Jesus. Needless to say this has added to the busyness I was talking about at the beginning of the letter, since they had much preparations to do for the play.

On Monday I decided to take the day off with a few friends and two of my sisters to have a "Monday Funday," in Seattle. I was blessed by a faithful follower of the blog, someone I've never personally met but definitely feel like we are kindred spirits. Anyway she and her husband pray faithfully each day for Luke and our family and she felt the Lord told her to bless me with some money to go have a day of fun, a day that I could just go and forget about all the stresses at home. It was a wonderful day and we all had a great time. Thank you Shirley and Ed.

I hope that you are all able to slow down during this busy season to take the time to thank our precious Heavenly Father for sending His one and only son, Jesus. He was willing to come down to be born as a little baby. I am thankful that Jesus, chose to live on this earth and give His life in exchange for us to have eternal life. I thinks it's so exciting that all we have to do is be willing to ask him to forgive us our sins and invite Him into our hearts. The awesome reward for doing this is to spend eternity in Heaven with Him. If you would to talk more about God's love for us or have any questions about eternal life please e-mail me at howslukedoing@yahoo.com

I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year. You all mean more to me than you can even begin to imagine. Thank you and I pray that you will be blessed beyond your wildest dreams.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

P.S. Thank you Teena for sharing with us about Melissa Snow, her web site as you mentioned is http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=melissasnow
I pray for her daily. If any of you have prayer requests for us at any time please share them I know we have many prayer warriors reading this blog.

Luke is moving his legs more and more each day

We've had a exciting day today, Luke is moving his legs all the time now. He began as I mentioned the night that we had special prayer for him a few weeks ago, today he kept kicking them and moving them all day long. When I took him to PT today his therapist said that it is definitely not a muscle spasm and seems to be purposeful movement. It was so wonderful when this evening we had him in our swing and he seemed to be pumping his legs to keep it going and then Natalie would hold his feet and he would get them out of her grip and continue to move them. I had tears of joy a few times today.

Luke went to Sunday School yesterday for the first time since his accident, my dear sisters Jill and Cindy, along with Natalie are teaching his class so that he is able to be with children his own age once again. He seemed to really enjoy himself and brought home a paper, thank you Jesus for progress.

I know many of you have asked how the other kids are doing? Lily, Ezekiel and Isaiah are finally over the cold and cough that they've had for so long and seem to be more pleasant lately. Luke is sounding so good also, he has such a strong cough and is able to clear his throat more often without the help of the suction machine. It seems at times that we are all too busy with all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, I spent hours shopping yesterday, Amy and Natalie had play practice at our church after church, Daniel went down to visit the family he stayed with last year and helped a friend record a demo, while my wonderful husband Gordy stayed home with Luke, Lily, Ezekiel, Isaiah and their little friend Bonnie. I thank the Lord for His strength during this busy time.

I was thanking the Lord for the constant changes I see in Luke on a weekly basis lately and was thinking back to this time last year when we he had his trach and we were suctioning him up to 30 times a day somedays, when the only way we could tell if he was upset was by watching his left eye turn red, not seeing any movement of his arms, fingers, legs and him staying pretty much in a backwards C all the time and taking 1 hour to get just a few Tablespoons of food into his stomach through his G-tube. To where today we are hardly ever having to suction him, he lets us know he is upset by making loud noises and even cries tears when he is in pain, now he is moving his arms, fingers and legs daily and since his fundoplication surgery he is taking his food so much better without throwing up constantly. God is so good to continue to encourage us during this long journey that we would not have chosen to go on, but that He is allowing you to join us and support us on while we are traveling down this path together.

Once again I humbly come before you with tears in my eyes to say "thank you" for your continued prayers and support, you will never even begin to imagine how wonderful it is having you with us as we get closer everyday to Luke's complete healing. Please pray that Luke will continue to move his legs more and more and that he will have a normal bend in his knees and that his hips and all his joints will have normal function. Also that he will continue to make new noises each day and that we will begin to hear happy noises and see his beautiful smile once again and last but not least that we will continue to stay healthy this winter.

Have a Merry Christmas Season!

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

We Serve a Mighty God, Luke is home once again

Luke came home tonight from the Hospital and he is doing great. We have not had to have oxygen on him since coming home and his oxygen levels have been staying up. I consider this to be a real answer to prayer, oh ye of little faith, if you would of asked me this morning if we would be home tonight and not on oxygen I would of said I doubt it.

We decided to bless the nurses, Dr.'s and RT's with some Krispy Kreme Donuts and it was funny just after passing them out the Dr. came in the room and said that if we were trying to bribe him to let us go home it had worked. All joking aside he listened to Luke and said that he sounds great, which didn't surprise him because he knows how quickly Luke bounces back from these sicknesses he gets. He also offered me a job at he Hospital since I know how to do what is called CPT or Chest Percussions Therapy so well, I of course turned him down, as you could tell we were all in good spirits as we were joking around.

I just want to share with you one more encouraging thing, yesterday when the Dr. was listening to Luke's chest he commented on how it usually seems to be his left lobe that is worse then his right lobe. He said that probably means that Luke is not having problems with aspirations, since the right side of the lungs is usually the side that most kids have a problem with when they aspirate. That was awesome news for me, because everyone assumes that Luke is aspirating and therefore filling his lungs up with his own secretions that he swallows, but I have been telling them that I don't think this is the case since the last swallow gram we had showed it going down into his stomach.

Luke continues to amaze us with more expressions and his eyes are so alert he actually looks right at people when they start talking to him or at least their direction. I am encouraged with the progress he is making and know as I've said over and over again that God is healing Luke slowly, steadily and surely in His timing and the completion of that healing won't be overdue a single day as my favorite scripture from Hab. 2:2 & 3 says.

I pray that you are all doing great, I pray that the Lord will bless you with wonderful health, I pray that you will be blessed spiritually, emotionally and financially, above anything you could possibly imagine. I think about that old song that some of you might recall "I serve a risen savior, He's in the world today, I know that He is able, no matter what men say, I see His hand of mercy, I hear Him when he speaks and just the time I need Him, He's always there, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today, He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way, He lives, He lives, salvation to impart, you ask me why, I know He lives, He lives within my heart. I'm not sure who wrote this song or if I got all the words right, but I just wanted to let you know that this is what my heart is singing tonight.

We Serve a Mighty God!

Love in Christ,

Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is doing a bit better

Just a little update to let you know that Luke is finally doing a bit better. We are weaning him off the oxygen slowly but surely and he is finally on a nasal cannula. Many of you probably don't have a clue what that means, it just means that he is finally able to be on less oxygen.

God is so good about encouraging us just when we need it. This morning I was crying out to God once again, praying that He would help me continue to have the right spirit about being here in the Hospital. Last night was kind of hard and Luke had to have more oxygen again and I was thinking that we are going to be here a long time. Needless to say I got a call from a good friend who is also a nurse here at Mary Bridge and she encouraged me so much and her prayer with me was just what I needed.

Gordy has been here most of the day so I was able to get a few Christmas gifts and then go for a walk with a few good friends. Thank you for your continued prayers they are working.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke's oygen numbers are still way too low to come home

Luke is doing a little better, though we have not been able to turn down the amount of oxygen that he is receiving. It remains a mystery what truly is causing this sickness, though it is seeming more likely that it is a bad virus that he has caught. All his blood work and other tests continue to come back negative for anything that we can point a finger at, tomorrow we should know the complete results from the tests.

I'm hoping that tomorrow we will begin to wean him off the oxygen and hopefully get home soon. It is as you can imagine it's so hard on our family when we are torn apart. I'm also feeling a bit stressed because I'm not even close to being ready for Christmas, which I know will be here before I know it.

Thank you for your continued prayer support, as we mention all the time they are the only thing that keeps us going. May God richly bless you during this wonderful time of the year and I hope that you can keep the reason for the season at the top of your list.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

Luke is back in the Hospital again!

We decided after 3 days of Luke being on oxygen that we needed to get him back to the Hospital so that the Dr.'s can figure out what is the matter. We went to the ER last night around 4:30 and they admitted Luke into his room around 8:30. They took all kinds of cultures and blood work and we still are not sure what is going on. All we know is that he is needing a lot of oxygen just to get through the day.

God did a good work in my life yesterday after we got to the ER. We did not want to go sit in the waiting room with all the sick people so they put us into an empty family room to wait. During this time I had a good time of just praying and singing praises to God, I needed an attitude adjustment. Sometimes it is so hard for me to continue to trust in the Lord and His timing in healing Luke. But after our 20 minute wait I left there knowing that we are here for a reason and my number one prayer is that the presence of God will radiate from both Luke and my lifes. I realized that I was looking at the Hospital as a failure in my faith that God is healing Luke and the Lord set me straight on the fact that our visits are not failures or a lack of faith, but more opportunities to share the love of Jesus with those that need to see it. Don't get me wrong I'm very anxious to get back to my home where I have my other children that need me just as much as Luke does, but I am at peace for now being here.

Please continue to pray not only for Luke's oxygen levels to get better, but also for the Dr.'s to have wisdom to know how to treat this and know exactly what is going on in his little body. I would also like to ask for continued prayer for Isaiah, Ezekiel and Lily, they are all still struggling with crouppy coughs and runny noses. Thank you once again for your continued prayers, I know that they are working, we get comments all the time from the nurses, RT's and Dr.'s about how fast Luke seems to recover.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue

All I can say is WOW!

Today was one of those days that I could of probably done without, I had great plans of getting our family pictures done and I was also looking forward to going to a Christmas party this evening. But God had other things in mind. Thursday night Luke began to get sick and all day Friday, instead of getting the hundred things I had planned to get done, I either held him or sat next to him to watch his oxymeter numbers. He was coughing and having difficulty breathing along with a very high fever, needless to say Gordy and I both did a lot of praying to God for him to get better. At about 11:00 p.m. we began to pack up Luke's stuff and get ready to go to the Hospital because we just couldn't get his fever under control he was at 104. 6, but finally after laying hands on him and praying again, he began to get a little better. That night we were able to get some much needed sleep as I was up all night the previous one.

In the morning he was still struggling and had a slight fever so I thought perhaps I should take him into the urgent care to be sure he didn't have pneumonia. Once the nurse took his vitals and saw that he was having to have at least 3 liters of oxygen to keep his numbers up she rushed us into seeing the Dr. They were all rushing getting some oxygen on him and decided that we needed to go straight to the Emergency Room. I had thought about taking him there in the first place but decided to go to the Urgent Care instead because I thought they would just take x-rays and perhaps send us home, oh me oh my I'm always the eternal optimist. To make a long story even longer, we where checked into the ER and taken back to a room right away for our 4 hour stay, don't get me wrong I'm very thankful that we only had to stay 4 hours. God had mercy on Luke and I and gave us a great Dr. who really listened to me and knew that I would be able to take care of him at home. They gave him two breathing treatments and some streroids and sent us home.

I am totally amazed at how well Luke is doing, his numbers are awesome he is down to 1/4 liters of oxygen and his heart rate is lower than it has been in a long time. I keep saying to Gordy, I just can't believe my eyes. It is so tempting on days like this to question God and say how come You couldn't of just touched him last night or this morning, how come we had to take one more trip to the Hospital. Then I remember God is asking me for my complete trust in His timing of healing Luke, I don't need to understand His ways, I only need to trust Him.

I was blessed when Luke and I got home from the Hospital we had some good friends here dropping off a jar of Ambratose, we had Luke taking this supplement for a long time and then we ran out and I've been thinking that we need to get him back on it again. Not only were they kind enough to go pick it up for us they also decided to pay for it, thank you Mike and Joyce, you are both appreciated greatly.

Please be praying not only for Luke's complete healing but also for Lily and Zeke, they are both coughing and running a slight fever, I know that this is where Luke got whatever it is that is going around. It would be so easy for me to say that's it, I'm not taking him or my other children anywhere they could get sick, but I realize that would be silly as we have places to go. I continue to ask the Lord for His wisdom in directing my steps.

Love in Christ,
Luke's Mommy Sue